. Around the campfires of primitive peoples have
started the folklore of races. These guides were more sophisticated
than their rustic mien hinted, the points of their yarns more subtle
than the city dwellers suspected.

One evening I reached the Poudre Lake camp at dusk, to find two other
parties ahead of mine. The others had finished supper and were
gathered around the campfire, with North Park Ned the center of
attraction.

"I was camped over on Troublesome crick, an' havin' a busy time with
cookin', wranglin' the hosses and doin' all the camp work. The
fellers, they was all men, were too plumb loco to help, everything they
touched spelt trouble. They admired to have flapjacks, same as we et,
for supper, an' they watched jest how I made 'em, an' flipped 'em in
the frypan. Then they wanted to do the flippin'."

Ned chuckled quietly to himself and went on:

"I hadn't realized afore that a tenderfoot with a pan of hot, smeary
flapjacks is as dangerous as he is with a gun. He's liable to cut
loose in any direction. He ain't safe nowhere. One of them I had out
was called Doctor Chance; guess he got his name cause other folks took
chances havin' him round. Well, Chance was the first flipper. I'd
showed him the trick of rotatin' the frypan to loosen the jacks so't
they wouldn't stick an' cause trouble. The doctor got the hang of
flippin' 'em 'an did a good job 'til he wanted to do it fancy. The
plain ordinary flip wasn't good enough for him, no siree. He wanted to
do it extra fancy. Instead of a little flip so's they'd light batter
side down, the doctor'd give 'em a double turn an' they'd come down in
the pan with a splash. He got away with it two or three times; then he
got careless--flipped a panful without loosen'n 'em proper--them jacks
stuck at one edge, flopped over and come down on doc's hands. We had
to stop cookin' and doctor the doctor.

"Then another one of 'em thought he'd learnt how from watchin' the doc,
so I set back an' let 'im have all the rope he wanted. It was their
party, an' they could go the limit so far as I was concerned. But the
new guy slung 'em high, wide an' crooked as a sunfishin' bronc. First
thing I knowed there was a shower of sizzlin' flapjacks rainin' where I
set, an' I had to make a quick getaway to keep from bein' branded for
life. Then he heaved a batch so high they hit a dead limb over the
fire an' wrapped aroun' it.

"It was then the next feller's turn, and